Dealers (or fellow collectors) who lit the fire

[ErikV]

With the National just around the corner, this thread reminded me
of a couple of dealers I had the "pleasure" of meeting at the very
first National in LA.

I recall seeing Mr. Mint at the show. At the time he was a pretty
big name in the hobby. I recall seeing him and his hundred dollar
bills at the front door. The other was a fellow by the name of
Kovak. As I recall, my brother and I had a designated meeting
place in front of Kovac's table that day. When he saw us there
he rather rudly snapped something to the effect of buy something
or leave his the area of his table.

I always wondered what happened to Kovak as many of his ads in
baseball card price guides seem to have disappered sometime after
that meeting with him.